Abstract

Before the emission of a photon the corresponding energy quantum stored in the excited atom is localized within the atomic-radius dimension r ≪λ, the photon wave length, After emission, according to the generally adopted QED model, the photon is fully delocalized over an infinite plane wave. A new microcavity technique is adopted to investigate for the first time, we believe, and in an extremely confined condition (i.e., over space-time distances d ≤ λ), the transition between these extreme and somewhat conflicting conditions.^1-2

© 1990 Optical Society of America